BBC Gaza Documentary Ruled a 'Serious' Breach of Broadcasting Standards, Declares Ofcom
The public service broadcaster committed a "significant breach" of media regulations by not revealing that the presenter of a film about the Gaza situation was the offspring of a Hamas representative, according to British broadcasting authority Ofcom.
An probe by Ofcom into the documentary titled Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone has found that the documentary was "substantially inaccurate".
The chief executive of the broadcaster had previously apologised, stating there had been "a major oversight in relation to factual correctness".
The authority has instructed the broadcaster to transmit a peak-time announcement about its conclusions.
"Since this amounts to a significant violation of our code, we are ordering the broadcaster to air a message of our determinations against it on the BBC's second channel at nine o'clock in the evening, with a schedule to be confirmed," the regulator stated.
'Risk to Erode Trust'
The regulator's report stated: "Our investigation determined that the film's omission to reveal that the voice's father served in a post in the Hamas-administered authority was substantially inaccurate.
"It meant that the audience did not have essential details which may have been extremely pertinent to their evaluation of the presenter and the content he shared.
"Credibility is at the center of the connection between a media organization and its viewers, particularly for a national broadcasting corporation such as the public broadcaster.
"This oversight had the possibility to damage the very considerable amounts of confidence that the public would have put in a factual film from the broadcaster about the Gaza conflict."
The programme was removed from the BBC's streaming service in February after the presenter's personal associations emerged, and in July an corporation's own inquiry found it infringed the corporation's journalistic standards on factual correctness.
A corporation official said: "The regulator's decision is in accordance with the results of Peter Johnston's review, that there was a major oversight in the film in relation to the BBC's Editorial Guidelines on factual correctness, which corresponds to Rule 2.2 of Ofcom's Broadcasting Code.
"We expressed regret for this and we accept the authority's determination in its entirety. We will adhere to the sanction as soon as the schedule and wording are determined."
